Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to mobile communication interactions with reward clubs. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for interacting with a member of an enterprise's rewards club through mobile communication devices.
Description of the Related Art
The use of mobile phones, handsets and other wireless devices is becoming a primary means for individuals to stay connected in their personal and professional lives. Mobile handsets and other wireless devices are being targeted by businesses to aid in the marketing efforts of the business to deliver specific content directly to prospective customers. One means of marketing includes the se of a “Rewards Club” program, utilized by businesses in many different industries to offer their customers special incentives for their repeat business. The challenge is to keep the customer engaged and earning rewards that will motivate them to more frequently patronize the business, as well as ensuring the authenticity of earned rewards.
Methods currently in use to earn rewards include tracking activities performed when the customer is visiting the business, and sending promotional material to the customer via mail or e-mail thereby requiring a response from the customer. The problem with these methods of earning rewards is that the promotion is only being presented to the customer when they are physically at the business location, and the promotional material sent via mail or e-mail are often deemed “junk mail” or “spam”, and are disposed of without being acted upon by the customer. Also, methods currently in use to ensure the authenticity of rewards include visual inspection of a reward receipt, often in the form of “punched” or “stamped” paper card, and requiring the customer to register their card or Rewards Club account online at the business' website or in person at the business' physical location before the customer can earn and/or redeem rewards. The problem with these methods of ensuring the authenticity of rewards is that fraud can be easily missed upon visual inspection, and that requiring the customer to initiate several steps before their rewards are authenticated discourages many customers from participating.
Roemer, U.S. Patent Publication Number 20100004045 for a Method And System For Awarding Bonuses Via Telecommunication Links discloses calling members of a casino player rewards club to award bonuses to the player.
Schwartz, U.S. Patent Publication Number 20110191152 for ASSIGNING A MOBILE-REDEEMABLE PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER TO A CONSUMER AS A MOBILE REWARD OR FOLLOWING A PURCHASE OF A PROMOTIONAL ITEM discloses a method to promote the sale of branded products through in-store acquisition of branded products or out-of store promotions designed to enhance retention of mobile rewards including one or more the following rewards: mobile sweepstake ballots, mobile loyalty points, and mobile coupons.
General definitions for terms utilized in the pertinent art are set forth below.
GSM, Global System for Mobile Communications is a second generation digital cellular network.
Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”) is a spread spectrum communication system used in second generation and third generation cellular networks, and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307.
Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) is a next generation communication network.
Interactive voice response (“IVR”) is a telephone technology in which a user uses a phone to interact with a database to acquire information.
Short Message Service (“SMS”) is text messaging communication using a mobile phone or other device to send messages up to 160 characters in length.
Multimedia messaging service (“MMS”) communication is a communication transmitted to and from a mobile phone that includes a multimedia content such as a digital photograph (JPEG), videos, and the like.
A SMS Gateway is used to send text messages with or without a mobile phone, and is used by aggregators to forward text messages to mobile phones.
BLUETOOTH technology is a standard short range radio link that operates in the unlicensed 2.4 gigaHertz band.
Mobile Originated (“MO”) is a text message that is sent from a mobile phone.
Mobile Terminated (“MT”) is a text message that is sent to a mobile phone.
Public Switch Telephone Network (“PSTN”) is a telecommunication system in which networks are inter-connected to allow telephones to communicate with each other throughout the world.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) of 1991 restricts the use of SMS text messages received by mobile phones, and SMS messages sent without a consumer's consent can violate the TCPA.
APP is a software application for a mobile phone such as a smart phone.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) is a set of conventions for controlling the transfer of information via the Internet from a web server computer to a client computer, and also from a client computer to a web server.
Internet is the worldwide, decentralized totality of server computers and data-transmission paths which can supply information to a connected and browser-equipped client computer, and can receive and forward information entered from the client computer.
FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a protocol for moving files over the Internet from one computer to another.
Short message peer-to-peer (“SMPP”) is a telecommunications protocol for exchanging SMS messages between SMS peer entities.
Simple object access protocol (“SOAP”) is a computer network protocol for exchanging information.
Simple mail transfer protocol (“SMTP”) is a delivery protocol for email.
Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) is a protocol for moving files over the Internet.
A SMS aggregator is an entity that provides connectivity with a mobile phone carrier by offering a SMS gateway to send and receive messages and other digital content.
Application Programming Interface (API) is a collection of computer software code, usually a set of class definitions, that can perform a set of related complex tasks, but has a limited set of controls that may be manipulated by other software-code entities. The set of controls is deliberately limited for the sake of clarity and ease of use, so that programmers do not have to work with the detail contained within the given API itself.
Direct Inward Dialing (“DID”) involves a carrier providing one or more trunk lines to a customer for connection to the customer's private branch exchange (“PBX”) and a range of telephone lines are allocated to this line.
Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) relates to communications transmitted over the Internet such as SKYPE.
URL or Uniform Resource Locator is an address on the World Wide Web.
User Interface or UI is the junction between a user and a computer program. An interface is a set of commands or menus through which a user communicates with a program. A command driven interface is one in which the user enter commands. A menu-driven interface is one in which the user selects command choices from various menus displayed on the screen.
Web-Browser is a complex software program, resident in a client computer, that is capable of loading and displaying text and images and exhibiting behaviors as encoded in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) from the Internet, and also from the client computer's memory. Major browsers include MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, NETSCAPE, APPLE SAFARI, MOZILLA FIREFOX, and OPERA.
Web-Server is a computer able to simultaneously manage many Internet information-exchange processes at the same time. Normally, server computers are more powerful than client computers, and are administratively and/or geographically centralized. An interactive-form information-collection process generally is controlled from a server computer, to which the sponsor of the process has access.
CRM is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company's interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. CRM involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes and the like—principally sales activities, but also business processes and the like for marketing, customer service and technical support.
Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”) is an open, global specification that empowers users with mobile wireless communication devices (such as mobile phones) to easily access data and to interact with Websites over the Internet through such mobile wireless communication device. WAP works with most wireless communication networks such as CDPD, CDMA, GSM, PDC, PHS, TDMA, FLEX, reflex, iDEN, TETRA, DECT, DataTAC, Mobitex and GRPS. WAP can be built on most operating systems including PalmOS, WINDOWS, CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, JavaOS and others.
WAP Push is defined as an encoded WAP content message delivered (pushed) to a mobile communication device which includes a link to a WAP address.
There is a need for an enterprise to interact with a member of the enterprise's rewards club through the member's mobile communication device in order to reward the member in an entertaining manner.